Breakwater construction



Sept. 22, 1953 D, H. HAYDEN BREAKWATER CONSTRUCTION Filed May 5, 194'? INVENToR. DAVID HOMER HAYDEN ffff Patented Sept. 22, 1953 'ai "s BREAKWATER CONSTRUCTIONv l. David Homer Hayden, Sarasota, Fla., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Beach & Shore, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 3, 1947, Serial No. 745,850

1 Claim. 1

The purpose of this invention is to provide a construction by which it is possible to easily and quickly build a breakwater or bar in shallow water, for instance on a beach, or the bank of a river or tidewater area without the use of coifer dams and so as to retain backll from a dredge or other source. Also to provide crib piers in places where freezing tidewater or wave action might lift driven piles.

I accordingly provide unit frames small enough to be handled by ordinary laborers without special equipment and designed so that they can be placed in any suitable position, superposed and connected in various ways.

The accompanying drawings illustrate a single unit and various ways in which they can be installed and united.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a single unit frame on a small scale embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the plane of the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 but on a larger scale.

Fig. 3 is a perspective View of a part of the frame on a scale larger than Fig. l but smaller than that of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a view illustrating my invention installed on a beach line and showing the bottom and high water level line.

Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are diagrammatic views showing different arrangements embodying my invention.

The interchangeable units may be of various sizes and shapes such as the square frame I of Fig. 1 of a convenient size such as 4 ft. X 4 ft., each side being of a cross section of 6 in. X 21/2 in. Such a size can be easily handled by two men.

Such a frame is preferably cast in a single piece of concrete and preferably with steel reinforcement such Vas rods II, II. The sides of each unit are provided with holes I2, I2 which have two functions i. e., to serve as weep holes for the circulation of water and sand and also to accommodate tie rods, bolts, chains or cables for uniting adjacent units. The upper and lower edges of each unit are provided with anges I3 and I4, respectively. The lower anges I4 of the bottom frame serves to cut into the sand or other beach soil and the upper flanges I3 of one unit overlap the lower flanges of the next upper frame.

Fig. 4 shows a stack of units installed on the bottom I5. High water` level is indicated by the line IB. The dotted line I1 indicates the probable line of a wash-in backilll. When units are arranged in a stack as shown in Fig. 4 the various 2 layers may be connected by vertical reinforcing bars I8, I8 outside or inside and united in any suitable manner.

The unit frames may be installed in various ways depending upon the local conditions. For instance units Iii-I0 are spaced apart in Fig. 5 and connected by wall sections 2li-20. These may be united by bars or cables 2| passed through holes such as I2, I2 of Figs. 1 and 2 and around the corners of the frames.

In Fig. 6 the spaced units I Il-Itl in one row are connected by interposed units I0-I0 in a parallel row united by cross bars 22. The dotted outlines 23 indicate the possible addition of other units.

In 7 the frames are set up in a diagonal ary rangement where adjacent units are connected by bolts 2t, 24 and the dotted lines 25 indicate possible additional units.

Fig. 8 shows a zig-zag arrangement of frames I@ which can be united in any suitable manner and reinforced along the dotted lines 26 if desired.

Fig. 9 shows still another arrangement of two rows of units I6 and 21 connected by interposed units 29 and united for instance by ties 28.

Such units can be placed, .one at a time, along the length of a wall and built up layer by layer. This can be erected in spite of continued wave action during which particles of sand or mud in suspension will be retained by the placed units. The relatively thin lower edges oi the bottom unit permits the frame to sink and lock in the sand or mud and prevent waves from cutting under.

The interlocking of units insures against failure due to sinking at soft spots or Where there may be a current of water. The connection of the units permits aV considerable flexibility of the installation.

This type of construction causes the water to churn at the line of construction and reduces the cutting action of the waves and retards the back- Wash thus causing suspended particles to deposit at the line of construction.

This type of wall is especially applicable for constructions such as causeways, reclaiming land where wide flats exist and the like.

The unit frames can be arranged as pierhead or bridge abutment and tied vertically and horizontally in any suitable manner.

The angular shape of the frame units causes violent churning of the waves from the outside of the frames. Any number of weep holes may be provided and in positions which facilitate the connection by vertical or horizontal connectors. The suspended sand or mud which is driven in through the weep holes or through the joints between the superposed frames therefore tends to stay inside the frames when the water iiows out. In some cases it may be desirable to pro.- vide projections at intervals along the edges of each frame unit so that the main portions of :the superposed units will be sure to 'be .spaced apa-rt slightly.

I claim:

A breakwater comprising a row of stacks of rectangular, one-piece, concrete frames spaced apart from each other in a line, a rectangular frame between each of the .first ,mentcned spaced frames and in a line parallel yto ibut out :of line 4 with the spaced frames and means for connecte ing adjacent frames in the respective stacks.

DAVID HOMER HAYDEN.

References Cited in the ie of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Alullbl' Name Date 490,693 Lawrence V V Apr. 2, 1889 1,893,003 Schlueter Jan. 3, 1933 2,474,786 Humphrey June 28, 1949 Y FOREIGN PATENTS Number l Country Date .497,508 France of 1919 160,988 Switzerland of 1933 

